1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cloud computing.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of cloud services such as an online storage is provided on the Internet. In connection with the widespread use of mobile information devices (hereinafter referred to as mobile terminals) such as a tablet PC and a smartphone, the convenience of the cloud services is improved. In recent years, more companies have used such cloud services for business.
Google Cloud Print (registered trademark) is known as a cloud service related to document printing (Google Cloud Print searched over the Internet on Feb. 26, 2013, URL:http://www.google.co.jp/cloudprint/learn/). The cloud service allows a user to use any terminal connected to the Internet to cause a printer registered in advance on the Internet by the user to perform printing promptly. For example, such a cloud service is used to cause a printer placed in office/home to print a document created somewhere away from office/home. A user A of the cloud service registers an e-mail address of another user B, so that the user A can share a printer with the user B.
Meanwhile, concerning network printing in a local network, a technology has been proposed for enabling network printing between networks separated from each other by a firewall. According to a network printer system disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-187370, a terminal making a print request converts print data received from an application into an e-mail message format, and sends the e-mail message to a printer with a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). The printer has a mail server function, obtains print data from a received e-mail message, and performs printing.
A method has been used in which, in order to enable a visiting employee to use an office device placed in a business destination even if he/she is not given an account for the device, a temporary account effective tentatively is issued. According to an image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-040564, a user is allowed to register a substitute account effective tentatively for a substitute person who uses the image forming apparatus instead of the user himself/herself. The substitute person logs into the image forming apparatus with the substitute account to use the image forming apparatus.
In the meantime, the following situation occurs often: An information device (A-device) used by an A-user of a cloud service can gain access to a cloud server on the Internet; however is not allowed to gain access to another information device (B-device) on a local network connected to the Internet. Under such a situation, the A-user cannot cause the B-device to which access cannot be gained to perform cooperative operation with the cloud server.
Suppose that, for example, an A-employee working at an A-branch of an X-company carries a mobile terminal (A-terminal) and goes on a business trip to a B-branch, and access from the A-terminal of the A-employee to a Local Area Network (LAN) of the B-branch is denied due to security. In such a situation, the A-employee cannot use a B-printer connected to the LAN of the B-branch to print a document saved in his/her A-terminal or in a cloud server. To be specific, even if the A-employee wishes to print a document at the destination because the document has many pages or the document is strictly confidential, the A-employee is not allowed to do so.
To cope with this, it is possible to make settings for sharing the printer B between an employee B of the B-branch and the employee A of the A-branch as with the foregoing Google Cloud Print. This, however, makes it possible for the employee A to use the printer B only in the same way as the employee B does during a period of time in which the settings for sharing the printer B are made. Stated differently, if settings for the employee B do not limit printing conditions such as the number of prints or paper size, the employee A is allowed to use the printer B without limitation.
If settings are made to share a Multi-functional Peripheral (MFP) rather than the printer B between the employee B of the B-branch and the employee A of the A-branch, security problems occur. The MFP is a composite information device which is used as a copier, printer, scanner, facsimile machine, and storage. The MFP is also equipped with functions of printing a document saved in a memory area called a box, and sending such a document to an external device. In light of information security, shared settings are not preferable in which the employee A of the A-branch is allowed to gain access freely to documents of a box of the MFP placed in the B-branch.